


last christmas i gave you my heart (but the very next day you gave it away)

by phae



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Radio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 05:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17135987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phae/pseuds/phae
Summary: Clint's a grade-A piner, if nothing else.





	last christmas i gave you my heart (but the very next day you gave it away)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [icywind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/icywind/gifts).



Clint spun idly in the office chair, headphones abandoned next to the switchboard ‘cause it wasn’t like he was going to pay any mind to the annoyed students calling in and constantly tying up the station’s only two lines. He was fucking annoyed too, dammit, and it was about time someone shared in his misery, even it was unsympathetic and involuntary.

 

It was kind of surprising the phone kept ringing actually, seeing as the campus was virtually dead as the home-for-the-holidays exodus had started three days ago, and the station started fading to static before you could even reach the welcome sign at the edge of campus.

 

Clint was justifiably shocked, then, when the door to the station booth actually _opened_ and another living being walked through. Granted, the shock factor probably had more to do with the fact that is was _Bucky Barnes_ doing the walking, but that was just semantics, really.

 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Clint demanded, planting his feet on the floor and bringing the chair’s momentum to a jarring halt.

 

Bucky pulled his arms up to cross them over his chest, falling nonchalantly into a casual lean against the door jamb. “Picking up Stevie? You know, the same as I do every break? Mr. Perfectionist is finally satisfied with his latest masterpiece, so we’re officially Brooklyn-bound soon as he gets his shit together.”

 

“But why are you _here_?”

 

“Well, golly gee! I don’t know, maybe ‘cause you’re blasting nothing but fucking _Last Christmas_ covers all over campus?” One judging eyebrow cocked up incredulously. It was a stupidly sexy look on Bucky, damn him. “Admittedly, at first I thought you were doing some kind of bit, like how TNT just plays _A Christmas Story_ for 24 hours straight, only worse, ‘cause [Wham!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gmARGvPlI). But then you broke out the [T-Swift](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4pTMZuAux4) version, and I realized it was actually a desperate cry for help. So who Scrooged you? Was it Bobbi? Natasha? Jessica? Dear God, Barton, it you’re pulling this shit over goddamn _Cherry_ \--”

 

“Are you fucking kidding me right now or what?”

 

“Huh?”

 

Clint jabbed an emphatic finger up at the ceiling speakers as [Ariana Grande](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReK9MVrOq0w) belted out _“But the very next day, you gave it away!”_

 

“It ever even cross your mind I might still be smarting after I finally worked up the nerve last year to ask you out, and then you cancelled at the last minute ‘cause someone better came available? Fuck you, Barnes.”

 

Bucky’s cool composure abruptly disappeared as he squeaked out, “That was a _date_?”

 

“What the hell else is dinner and a movie supposed to be?” Clint grumbled with a heated glare.

 

“No, that’s not--” Bucky took a step forward from the doorway, and given the closet-sized space warranted to the station as a whole and the booth in particular, it meant he was then practically looming over Clint, flailing about as he went on, “You said you wanted to _hang out_! Hanging out does not constitute a date!”

 

“In what world?” Clint spluttered, shoving himself back away from Bucky as far as the wrap-around desk would let the chair go.

 

“This one!” Bucky insisted with his hands thrown high in the air, no doubt to express his complete exasperation with Clint, which was honestly how most of their interactions had always concluded in the past. “Haven’t you ever heard that communication is key? You’ve gotta be upfront with your intentions, dude!”

 

“Fine!” Kicking up out of the chair, Clint slammed his hands down on the desk and got all up in Bucky’s grill in the not-so-fun way. “My _intentions_ were to take you to the hole in the wall hibachi place you’re always moaning about missing, and then take you to the $2 dollar theatre ‘cause they were still running _The Magnificent Seven_ and you kept going on and on about not seeing it yet, and then try not to fuck up kissing you goodnight ‘cause I was pretty sure I was gonna start crying from too much happy!”

 

Bucky stood across from him blinking with exaggerated care as Clint panted in the absence of anything to add to his outburst. “Seriously?”

 

Reality crashed back down on Clint and he finally caught up to what all he’d been saying, and all the bluster suddenly left his sails. Hunching in on himself, he brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck as he nodded self-consciously.

 

He didn’t have long to wallow, though, because the next second, Bucky was scrambling around the desk, knocking his knee into the trash bin and toppling it over, and crowding in around Clint with his hands coming up hesitantly to catch and close around Clint’s own. “Clint. Sweetcheeks. Doll. Honeydew. We should definitely go do all those things. Like, right now. I mean, the movie’s negligible. Doubt I’ll pay it any mind. I’ll be too busy trying to sneak my arm around your shoulders, but the point stands.”

 

Which of course left Clint as the one just standing there gaping. “ _Seriously_?”

 

With a decisive nod, Bucky drew his hands back only to unearth his phone from his back pocket, fingers flying over the screen as he spoke. “Texting Steve now. He should probably sleep anyway. He’s been going non-stop for like a week. Looks pretty rough around the edges, you know?” Then with a pointed tap to the phone’s power button, Bucky looked back up and caught Clint’s eye, smirking like there was no tomorrow. “Come on, let’s go. Time’s a-wasting. Like, we already wasted a _whole year_ \--”

 

“Yeah, just--Hold on a sec, let me--” Reaching around to get at the computer, Clint hit a few keys and switched over to another playlist, cutting [Cascada](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ28Sv_PxgU) off mid-word. “There, got it!” he exclaimed triumphantly. Stepping in close to Bucky’s side, he linked their fingers together and squeezed them encouragingly as the opening notes to [Christmas Wrapping](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g2NwnDcCXY) started up on the speakers just outside the booth. “Okay. I’m all yours.”

 

“Fucking Hallelujah,” Bucky replied, smiling with all the devastating charm in his extensive arsenal.


End file.
